A Journey through the Mass
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After the Great Amen that affirms our offering ourselves with Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit that, the assembly now stands with Christ in heaven before the throne of God. Love has been revealed. Love is communion – our Oneness with God. And that starts with the Lord’s Prayer given to us by Christ as the foundation of all other praying. We intimately address the Father just as Jesus did all the way to the cross, “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.” We, too, receive the response from the Father when he says, “Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. Raising Jesus from the dead reveals the intimacy of God’s proclamation. The Lord’s Prayer is prayed in the plural Our and declares profound trust in God to lead us, this Community of faith, through this life toward eternal life as we have become One in the Body of Christ.
Another word for Communion is Peace. For the first time in the Mass, the priest prays directly to Christ rather than to the assembly or to God the Father. We recall the words Jesus gave us at the Last Supper, “I leave you my peace, my peace I give you.” Ironic that the death of Jesus gives us peace. Peace comes with giving and emptying ourselves completely. When Jesus first appeared to the apostles after his Resurrection, he greeted them with, “Peace be with you.” God and humans have been reconciled through the cross in the One Body so the entire assembly with the Communion of saints pray to Jesus for “peace and unity in accordance with your will”. The priest addresses the assembly with the words of our risen Lord, “The peace of the Lord be with you always”. The assembly responds, “and with your Spirit”. The deacon exhorts, “Let us offer each other a sign of God’s peace”. This ritual exchange is not a greeting but a gesture that signifies our love for one another in Christ.
“The breaking of the Bread” remains so fundamental to our using the gifts of this world, prepared by humans to bring us all into communion with Christ. We each partake of this one loaf, the Body of Christ. Agnus Dei, “Lamb of God” sung by the assembly and ending with, “grant us peace” further opens the dimensions of this communion.
The words we used to pray the Lord’s Prayer become action as the community singing with one voice processes up and each receives the Body and Blood of Christ, the one who takes away the sins of the world. As we hear the words, “The Body of Christ” we respond with AMEN, grateful for the love that God has in offering eternal Oneness with him. We carry this revealed love forward in our lives since we are One Body in Christ.